Parties – Page 63 – Slugger O'Toole

NI Justice Minister: “This is exactly the type of news Northern Ireland needs to avoid.”

Pete Baker on October 31, 2010, 1:27 pm

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Army bomb experts have made safe a viable device containing over 40kg of homemade explosive material after a two-day security alert in Lurgan. And a second explosive device has been found inside a vehicle at the long-stay car park at Belfast International airport. Assistant Chief Constable Duncan McCausland said both devices “had the potential to cause injury and damage”. “They were left in places used by the public and with no regard for the public; it is thanks to the vigilance …

“I want to represent their views.”

Pete Baker on October 30, 2010, 2:30 pm

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So said 18-year-old Connor Morgan as he became the first member of Sinn Féin to speak in the House of Commons. The event was the annual sitting of the UK Youth Parliament in the House of Commons – Mr Morgan being a representative for County Londonderry. Speaking afterwards, Mr Morgan insisted his Sinn Fein membership was “completely irrelevant” as members of the Youth Parliament do not have party loyalties. “This event is not party political,” he said. “I’m here today just …

Platform calls for rethink on cohesion and promises full programme soon

Brian Walker on October 29, 2010, 8:20 pm

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By the end of the year, a long awaited paper from the pressure group for political renewal and realignment Platform for Change will outline what a proper Programme for Government should look like, with an eye to next year’s assembly election. The paper will refresh the Platform’s core document which itself needs updating in the light of the cuts and many other developments. Today group supporters published an open letter to the FM and DFM expressing deep dissatisfaction with the poverty of …

Is it good enough for David Ford only to hold the ring?

Brian Walker on October 29, 2010, 6:47 pm

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The dissident threat and the Newtownabbey riots prompts me to ask: what impact is David Ford making as Minister of Justice? The conclusion would seem to be a modest one, compared to the massive controversy over devolving the justice and policing functions. I can’t help feeling that big issues are being ducked: viz: Are the PSNI in shape to deal with the dissidents, UVF left-overs and the legacies of paramilitarism generally? Is an agreement in sight for dealing with the …

“You have to ask yourself – are they (the leadership) the only ones allowed to write books?”

Pete Baker on October 29, 2010, 3:56 pm

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On Thursday the International Representative for west Belfast, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, and his party colleague the Northern Ireland deputy First Minister, may have been expressing their concern at a “crisis meeting” about an apparent increasing number of suicides in the area… But they don’t yet seem to have found time to comment on the suicide of a former comrade. Former Provisional IRA member Gerard ‘Whitey’ Bradley’s body was found in a car parked at a marina near Carrickfergus Castle on Wednesday. Bradley, with the assistance …

Two Dail seats for Sinn Fein in Donegal..?

Mick Fealty on October 29, 2010, 11:33 am

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There’s an analysis piece in the Donegal Democrat that backs some of the soundings I’ve been taking in and around Donegal in recent weeks, ie that Sinn Fein could/should take one and possibly two seats in Donegal in the next southern general election. The figures are an extrapolation from the last Red C poll, and based on an ‘independent’ analysis from Aidan Kavanagh at NUI Maynooth (who did a similar exercise in May): The national figures which were published at …

Can the DUP advance the cause of mixed schooling like this?

Brian Walker on October 28, 2010, 10:30 am

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So the DUP ” will not rest” until a single schools system is created, says Mervyn Storey He suggested four issues would require agreement: Governance — a single body representing all to encourage collaboration in planning; Policy — achieving genuine consensus rather than “whim or ideology”; Structures — meeting needs in a cost-effective way, and Choice — protecting the concept of parental choice “within an agreed framework”. The big question is – Is the DUP in any position to achieve …

“they are doing nothing which the Provisionals didn’t do before them and with the same political rationale”

Pete Baker on October 27, 2010, 3:32 pm

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Somewhat related to this previous post. In the Belfast Telegraph, Eamonn McCann makes the point I remember almost breaking down as I spoke as the realisation hit me that the difference between Ned McCann and Patsy Gillespie was nothing except 25 years. Just as the difference between Patsy and Gerry McConnell was 20 years. Oglaigh na hEireann hadn’t sucked the idea from their thumbs. This consideration, the fact that precedent is provided by the actions of some who have since …

PSNI: “There were gunmen, let’s have no illusions about this…”

Pete Baker on October 27, 2010, 1:05 pm

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A second night of rioting in the Rathcoole estate in Newtownabbey saw another attack on a bus driver and petrol bombs being thrown. And PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Duncan McCausland has confirmed the police’s belief that the UVF were involved ACC McCausland said the violence on Tuesday night was at a lower level than the previous night but said that was “no excuse for what happened”. “The reality is, there were sinister elements, paramilitary loyalist elements who wanted to make a message …

Leadership recovered – now what?

Brian Walker on October 27, 2010, 11:29 am

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My old friend Ed Curran has a long record of observing politics that is almost unrivalled among those still writing today (apart from arch patriarch Jimmy Kelly). Ed has been treating Bel Tel readers to reality checks about the nature of unionism and its leadership, a topic that greatly exercises Slugger comment. He is surely right to say that Peter Robinson has staged a quiet comeback as DUP leader and First Minister in the wake of his stunning defeat in …

Brendan Hughes: “I had no control over this squad. Gerry had control of this particular squad”

Pete Baker on October 26, 2010, 7:27 pm

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Peter Wilson, a 21-year-old with learning difficulties who went missing in 1973, was only added to the official list of those abducted, murdered and secretly buried by republican paramilitaries in October last year. Today, on the basis of information described as “of good quality, it is reliable and from a good source”, the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains announced details of a search for his remains. Meanwhile, as Rusty flagged up on Sunday, tonight RTÉ will broadcast Voices From the Grave …

Brian Ervine: “The media are fixated with the paramilitary link…”

Pete Baker on October 26, 2010, 1:35 pm

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The new PUP leader, Brian Ervine, had just been telling the News Letter of the “tremendous work [they are doing] on the ground that hardly ever gets reported on.” Prior to the annual conference earlier this month, a vote was taken on maintaining the party’s link with the paramilitary UVF and Red Hand Commando. The vote was based on a clearly defined written defnition of the link issued to members prior to the meeting. There were six points listed in …

The Assembly – struggling to face cuts reality

Brian Walker on October 25, 2010, 9:06 pm

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In the interests of Slugger’s ” better politics campaign”, I sat through the on line coverage of the special Assembly debate on the cuts. (Note the lack of a full report on the MSM). MLAs were united on three things: that the British government had broken their promises, that MLAs themselves had to unite to do something about the cuts ; and three – and this one wasn’t deliberate – that no one had much of an idea what that …

Brian Arthurs: “Republicans cannot see Irish unity in any of this.”

Pete Baker on October 24, 2010, 5:46 pm

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The ongoing saga of “prominent Co Tyrone republican” Brian Arthurs’ legal challenge to the ruling that he and his wife should stand trial in a non-jury court, on charges of converting criminal property and obtaining a money transfer by deception, received an update on Friday. A panel of High Court judges had rejected Arthurs’ legal challenge in June this year. On Friday the Irish News reported that “those judges [had] agreed to certify two questions to be put before the [UK] Supreme Court on points …

NI Finance Minister: “they are probably delaying or seeking to delay the whole process of trying to make a budget.”

Pete Baker on October 23, 2010, 1:49 pm

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The BBC reports Northern Ireland Finance Minister, the DUP’s Sammy Wilson, criticism of today’s protest in Belfast by the trade unions. …Mr Wilson said unions were “giving false hope to people that somehow or other by holding placards they can avoid these financial choices”. He also accused the unions of using the cuts to gain political clout. “In doing so, they are probably delaying or seeking to delay the whole process of trying to make a budget.” And the NI Executive’s ‘protest’, …

“it’s up to the Executive whether to sell assets like Belfast harbour”

Pete Baker on October 22, 2010, 10:41 pm

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The Northern Ireland Executive met today [To decide what planet they’re living on? – Ed] to discuss the outcome of the 2010 Spending Review. Apparently, they now want to meet with either the “Coalition Government” or the “London Government”. In their statement they can’t decide which. Perhaps the UK Government would do? How about the Northern Ireland Secretary of State? He is a member of that government, after all. And as the NI Secretary of State, Owen Paterson, told the BBC “This is …

“We believe this is a crude attempt to circumvent the proper and long-established channels of financial accountability within education”

Pete Baker on October 22, 2010, 4:01 pm

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The BBC notes the declared intention of the board of governors of Catholic grammar school Loreto College to end academic selection from 2012 or 2013 – you can check the most recent figures on Loreto’s academically selected intake here. By the way, how is that review going? And the BBC report quotes the Catholic Principals’ Association chair Seamus Quinn CPA chair Seamus Quinn said: “Loreto has followed the moral and spiritual guidance provided by the Commission for Catholic Education (NICCE). “Their decision is an important step …

“More tea, Eamon?”

Pete Baker on October 21, 2010, 11:09 am

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In the Irish Times Miriam Lord has a ‘fly-on-the-wall’ report from the main Irish political parties’ consensus meeting yesterday on the budgetary measures needed to get the economic situation under control. From the Irish Times The Taoiseach has an idea. “Right lads. Boutros Boutros Gormley wants harmony. I’ll sing the verses and you two can join in on the chorus. What’ll we sing?” They start to snigger when they think of Gerry Adams locked outside in the cold. (Although this …

Owen Paterson: “I don’t know what planet they’re living on.”

Pete Baker on October 20, 2010, 8:04 pm

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That was Northern Ireland Secretary of State Owen Paterson’s reported response to the reaction of our special little pleaders to the outcome of the UK Government’s 2010 Spending Review. And he has a point. The NI First Minister, the DUP’s Peter Robinson, claimed the cuts were ‘worse than feared’ . But his party colleague, and NI Finance Minister, Sammy Wilson, has stated that “Whilst the level of budget reductions we are facing is unwelcome, and will present a serious challenge, it comes as …

“a large proportion of the general public in Northern Ireland do not feel engaged with the current system of governance.”

Pete Baker on October 20, 2010, 12:40 pm

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BBC NI political editor, Mark Devenport, had wondered just how bad the news from the Assembly’s Public Attitude Survey [pdf file] was that they chose to bury it ahead of the coverage of the Chancellor’s Spending Review. Well now we know… From the report’s “Key findings and implications” [pdf file] (Added emphasis throughout) It is clear from the survey findings that a large proportion of the general public in Northern Ireland do not feel engaged with the current system of governance. Only a …